


His Dead Eye

by Splat_Dragon



Series: Whumptober 2019 [12]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: "Adrenaline", Arthur is clueless, Day 13, Dead Eye, Dialogue Heavy, Young Arthur, Young Dutch, prompt 13, seriously don't bother, this is awful, whumptober2019, worst fill so far, young hosea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 18:04:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21019976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Splat_Dragon/pseuds/Splat_Dragon
Summary: Whumptober 2019, #13: "Adrenaline"Arthur had always been the best shot in the Gang.They'd taken to calling it his dead eye, his uncanny ability to always land a perfect shot.What were the chances that the kid they picked up reacted so heavily to adrenaline?





	His Dead Eye

Arthur was the best shot in their little gang.

Dutch was vain as sin, but even he’d admit that.

  


He hadn’t known how to fire a gun when he’d joined them, not long ago, but when Hosea and Dutch had tried to teach him he’d taken to it like a duck to water. The boy’s talent was almost supernatural, and it hadn’t taken long for him to surpass Hosea’s ability, leaving Dutch to take over his teaching. Soon, though, even Dutch had nothing left to teach him.

  


Arthur was a _ quick _ shot, which was useful enough, but he was _ accurate_, too. No one he shot suffered unless he wanted them to, each bullet landed in their heart or between their eyes, dropping them before they could feel any pain. It was impressive as hell, and they were certain he had paid them back several times over for what they’d spent since taking him in—although they’d never asked him to.

  


They’d been sitting around the campfire one night, somewhat tipsy after a wagon robbery gone right. Arthur had performed even better than usual, shooting a man through the temple despite the guard being on the ground with Dutch, wrestling and thrashing, moving so much Hosea didn’t dare trying, for fear of shooting Dutch instead.

But Arthur hadn’t so much as even hesitated, drawing his revolver from his holster and firing, the man’s head going up in a red mist as he slumped on top of Dutch. It was a near impossible shot, but he’d made it without a second thought.

“How do you do it, son?”

Dutch had asked, eyes glasses, drunk off both his whiskey and the high of escaping death.

“Do what?”

Arthur had asked, not half so drunk, still having a severe distaste for any sort of alcohol.

“The… the…”

Dutch had asked, firing finger guns.

“How do you do it, son? I’ve never seen anyone shoot like that?”

Hosea had hummed, sipping at his whiskey. Even at a much younger age, he hadn’t much cared to get drunk.

Arthur had frowned at them, tilting his head and sipping his beer, wrinkling his nose at the taste,

“It’s easy, I just aim at the red.”

And they’d stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

“The… red, son?” Dutch had tried to clarify.

And Arthur had slowly started to realize that, perhaps, this wasn’t normal.

“Yeah? When everythin’ goes yellow and ya can see the red on their head and chest?”

Dutch and Hosea shared A Look, thoroughly lost,

“Y’all… y’all don’t see that?”

Hosea shook his head slowly, 

“No, son, no we don’t.”

And Dutch asked,

“When do you see it?”

Arthur tilted his head, setting down his beer, frowning.

“When we fight, ya know? An’ everythin’ gets all dangerous, like when Dutch almost got shot. Or when we’re outnumbered.”

Hosea was starting to get an idea, starting to remember something he’d read while waiting for a contact to arrive,

“Does anything else happen, son?”

Arthur nodded, crossing his legs,

“Well, yeah. I told ya everythin’ turns yellow.” Hosea motioned his hand as though to say _ ‘and?’ _ he furrowed his brow, “It all slows down, lets me aim and fire before they can.”

Arthur shrugged as though it were no big thing.

Dutch looked at Hosea, looking concerned and vaguely alarmed. _ “Is he-?” _ he mouthed, but Hosea frowned,

“I’ve read about something like this.” he tapped his fingers on his thigh, trying to remember exactly what it had said, “Some people react stronger to adrenaline than others, looks like you’re one of them, son.”

Dutch looked over at Hosea, “What does that mean?” while Arthur just stared at him blankly.

“It _ means _,” Hosea said slowly, “that when he gets into a fight, or gets angry, or anything else happens that makes him feel an adrenaline rush, that happens. As he puts it, he sees yellow, and things slow down more than it usually does for most people. And, apparently, he can see peoples’ vital areas. The book didn’t talk about that, but I didn’t get too far into it.” he admitted. “It’s useful, and can keep him alive in our line of work.”

“Huh,” Arthur said, shrugging and sipping at his beer, uncaring.

Hosea didn’t much care for the way Dutch was looking at Arthur, eyes gleaming, head tilted. “I wonder what else it could do,” he mused, and Hosea knew that he wasn’t asking him.

Maybe he should have held his tongue.


End file.
